I am not a fan of toilet-paper holders. I mean, who is, really? They’re certainly not glamorous and I’m still not convinced they are essential. Toilet paper can sit on the back of the toilet, right?

I’ve rarely met a toilet paper holder that I like. This one from Clever Spaces is about as close as I’ve gotten to “liking” one, but at $52 a pop, that wasn’t going to happen. But of course that led me to this one from Assembly Design. I love how minimalist it is, but $130! Wha what? For a toilet paper holder? This little stop gap bathroom renovation of ours was meant to be cheap, so a $50 toilet-paper holder would have doubled the budget and a $130 toilet-paper holder would have…well, you get the gist. Seriously?

I am in the middle of modifying our laundry closet curtain, removing the pole loops and using curtain clips, so I just used the loops for my fabric. I’m not much of a seamstress, so it helped that these were already finished. All I had to do was sew a loop for the dowel and finish the top.

I cut a 3/4″ poplar dowel down to size and then added wood buttons to either side using wood glue.

The unit is attached directly to the cabinet using finishing nails. Ignore the unfinished bathroom elements (dried glue, missing molding, etc…this bathroom is about 90% ready}.

I’m not in love with it, but I’m not sure I’d ever love a toilet-paper holder.

If you’re in the market for an “indie” toilet-paper holder, looking for something simple and minimalist, check out this post from Remodelista. Maybe we’ll splurge for the master bath renovation…

In October, a week before my wedding, I decided to knock out Phase I of my built-in bookcase. It was stupid. I was already stretched too thin, but I was determined to get it done before we hosted our rehearsal dinner at the end of the week. I got it done for the most part, but it was lacking a few minor finishes and touch-ups.

I had always planned to add to the unit with floating shelves over the doorways on either side of the central unit, so all those minor touch-ups went unfinished…until last week.

I added a floating unit to either side of the large bookcase. The boxes are attached to a 2×4 that is attached to the stud. These bad boys aren’t going anywhere. You can see how the main unit was put together HERE. The whole shebang was built out of MDF with a circular saw. I now own a table saw…that would have made this project waaaaaaay easier.

With the main unit, we were stuffed full of books. The additional shelves give us a little more room to grow, although there is little styling done here, since we have so many books!

There’s usually a curtain covering the laundry closet, but I’m doing a little upcycle there, so I’ll show that when it’s ready.

And here’s a look at the evolution of the living room, er, let’s say the evolution of the bookcase. 1) We moved in with an Elfa unit from The Container Store. I actually used this unit for my shoes in my last house, 2) Jeremiah twisted my arm for that pop {EXPLOSION} of pumpkin color behind the built-in, 3) This room is 90% complete…for now anyway…

For the girls 1st birthday, I wanted to make them a fun and handmade project.

I’d built these fun little a-frame tents for our nephews and a friend for Christmas and thought that might be a great gift for the girls too – they love to crawl inside things. But, after some thought and toddler room transition-planning – I’ve already started moving and changing things in here – I decided a reading nook might be a better grow-with-them project.

Introducing the easiest reading nook project on the planet!

The only thing I purchased for this project was curved curtain rod which was $15 on amazon. I had the lace curtains from my house in Oakland, they are Alvine Spets from Ikea. The bunting was made from old scraps of fabric {thanks mom for sewing them for me!} and the pillows are just a random collection from around the house. Fun Fact: I made that cow-print euro-pillow cover when I was in college. The 3D paper star lantern used to hang in the opposite corner. The rocking horse was DIYed by me.

It’s pretty simple. Hang the rod with curtains in the corner of your choice and then assemble the pillows. The girls love this little space. They love to dive into the pillows, play peekaboo and hide n’ seek in the curtains and can spend an hour or more just looking through their books, flipping through pages, talking and being read to.

At night, during our bedtime routine, I turn off all the lights in the room except for the star. It’s a nice way to settle down after a long day.